She knelt down, putting her face into her hands. How had it come to this? She had loved him so, SO much! And now... now he was gone. The best part of her life. The person she had always counted on, always looked forward to seeing. Gone. Sobs shook her body, the grief overwhelming her and making life look bleak and worthless. Someone touched her shoulder. Could she not even mourn in private? Looking up through her tears, she saw a man.
"Why are you crying?" he asked her, his tones gentle.
Anger mixed with her pain and sorrow and she gestured to the gaping hole. How hard-hearted did a person have to be to take a body from the grave? "Please, sir, tell me where they took him."
"Mary."
Recognize the story? I've been thinking about it today. Here Mary was, her heart broken. She didn't understand. Can you imagine what was going through her mind just then? A stranger comes up to her, so she turned to him to ask for help. But guess what??? It was Jesus!
I realized that sometimes I get wrapped up in anger, grief, or frustration. I wonder where God is. I turn to a friend or some human and say, "Help me! I can't find God!"
Then I realize something.
He's right there.
He puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "Emily." That's all He needs to say, really. His voice is so gentle, so loving. It says, "I love you. I forgive you. I'm still here. My promises to you will never be broken. Come to my arms."
If you're feeling hurt or angry like Mary, take a moment to look behind you. God will be there, watching over you. He promised.
So... it's been a long time since I got my hair cut and all of you said you wanted to see pictures. And I never posted pictures. Shame on me. A week ago I went out to have my senior pictures taken. Here are just a few of the 222 pictures. =D Which is your favorite?
Today I was playing with Seth and I just. about. lost. it. You know that proverbial straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back? Well... that's kinda where I was. Why? Well, be patient! I'm getting there!
As Seth has gotten older, Dad has had him hold doors open for us girls. Seth knows that he's *never* to hit a girl. So... basic gentlemanly behavior isn't too much of a problem. But I cannot think of my brother as a gentleman. I don't care how many doors he holds open or how often he refrains from hitting a female antagonist. (AKA big sister) He may have some of the motions down, but the spirit of the gentleman isn't there.
Name calling. Among other things. But the name calling is the worst. He makes up words - his current favorite being "skoobadook" - and calls us by these names any time something isn't going his way. I get a match in Go Fish? "You big blakkayeada!" He growls at me, yells at me, calls me names. Not the behavior of a gentleman if you ask me.
Seth and Dad also play Bible stories together. Guess who gets to be poked and mocked as a substitute Philistines when it comes to playing David and Goliath? Us girls, of course. Who become animals or even poop piles in Noah's Ark? The sisters who are (un)lucky enough to be close by.
And today it just really bothered me. Seth and Dad probably don't even think about what they're doing, so I shouldn't blame them. But it just brings to my mind a dream that I have had for several years.
The dream of feeling cherished.
I think I'm cherished. My parents spend money on me even when it's not absolutely necessary. And they take the time to say "thank you" when I do something like make breakfast or desert. Oh, and there's that routine, "I love you" right before bed. But even though in my heart I know that I'm NOT hated and that I AM loved.... I don't feel cherished, appreciated, and worthwhile. I feel like I've been lost in life's crazy demands.
So... to the guys out there: Respect the girls. Hold open the doors for them. Allow them to go first in line. But if you ever want to win a girl's heart, you can't stop there. 'Cause for this girl here, and I imagine for other girls as well, we're looking to be cherished.
I am so thankful for my mom and everything that she does for me. She is definitely one of the top moms out there! (I'd say she's the best, but I know how much controversy that would cause among my friends... so I'll leave rooms for their moms to be great, too. LOL)
I'm also thankful for the many godly women that have been a blessing and encouragement to me over the past few years. Here are the blogs of a couple of the ladies who have blessed me most online:
So... I have watched a lot of videos on youtube, and I've subscribed to several people. My favorites are people who post videos of piano pieces that they've learned and people like OpheliaBH. Ophelia is most famous for her Homeschooled vs. Homeschooler video, which I will include below. Well, I decided to post a few videos somewhat similar to what Ophelia and many other people have done. Here's the result... I'm not called the Ramblin' Rose for nothing! LOL
Here are some things that Seth has said or says on a (somewhat) regular basis that just make me laugh:
(Looking through a WW1 book that I have out from the library.) "Awesome machine gun!... SweeeEEEEt... Look at these planes! This book is so awesome I could... I could just *live* in it!" Me: "Where'd you hear that?" Seth (as if it's rather obvious): "From MYSELF!"
.:.:.
You know how these days when people admit to a mistake, they say, "Oh, my bad." Well I do that a lot. "Who didn't start the dishwasher?" "My bad." "You just said the wrong name when you were talking about so-and-so." "My bad." "Weren't you going to make me breakfast this morning?" "My bad."
You get the picture.
Well, Seth has his own little spin on things. I have heard him on a couple of different occasions saying, "Why am I bad." in the same tone of voice that I say, "My bad." He's not asking a question. He's stating it. "Why am I bad." Oh, and he tries to fit it all into as little space as possible so it sounds like, "WhimeIbad." Too funny.
.:.:.
We were talking about a church in our area and mom said, "That's the church Mrs. S____ grew up in." Seth's eyes got big as he said, "Mrs. S____ grew up in a church???!!!"
.:.:.
I stood behind Seth's chair at dinner and snapped my chapstick closed right next to his ear. "Emily," he said in a whining voice.
"What?" I asked, "All I did was make a little noise. I haven't tipped your chair back, touched you, or anything! Is it my presence behind you that bothers you?"
Twice in the last month I have seen a glowing review for the book Little Britches by Ralph Moody. One review actually highly recommended the whole series for family reading. I am here to tell you something: I would not recommend these books.
I was looking around at the library last night and just happened to stumble on Little Britches. Remembering the reviews I had so recently read, I decided to check it out. I haven't seen so much foul language in a book since I read the unedited version of The Red House Mystery. So, I don't recommend the books. If language doesn't bother you, by all means go ahead and read. It's something along the lines of Little House on the Prairie. Ralph Moody is the main character in the story of his life.
Now as a bonus topic: Do any of you have cats? Do your cats eat roses? When my grandpa got me roses for my birthday and when my Dad got roses for my mom, our cat ate them. What in the world?
When I was at my friend Erin's house a while back, I absolutely fell in love with homemade tortillas. I'm going to try and make some this week if I can, and I thought I'd share a youtube recipe with you. =D If they're not as good as the ones Erin's mom makes... oh, well. I guess I'll keep trying.
There's a song in Doctor Dolittle that goes something like, "Walk with the animals, talk with the animals..." I don't know. It just happens to be what came to mind when I first saw this. [Edit: The "this" right there is a link... it's not showing up too well, though! Maybe the coloration on my computer is off... but in case yours is, too, I thought I'd mention it!]
Insane? Totally.
Cool? Absolutely!
haha I would never spend that amount of money just to be able to walk like a faun, but hey... it's a cool concept!
Anyhow... just thought I'd share. It's one of those different things that you don't see every day. =D
Wishing you were somehow here again Wishing you were somehow near Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed Somehow you would be here...
Too many years Fighting back tears Why can't the past just die?
Seven. It's the number of perfection, right? Well it's been seven years. My best friend got saved at a revival meeting at our church. I remember so many details... I remember six years ago, too. The betrayal, the heartache. You know, when you really care about someone and they betray you, it's not something you just get over. No sirreee.
C- I've thought of you every. single. day. since I lost you. I wish I could have you back as you were, but knowing that you're probably so much different now, I'm almost glad that there's no chance of reconciliation. I pray for you. I've forgiven you. I miss you.
I love history. A lot. A lot a lot. So it's no surprise that I'm subscribed to Wikipedia's "This Day in History" email. I get it every day and enjoy reading the headlines from hundreds of years ago. Sometimes I get frustrated because they leave stuff out... but that's besides the point. =P
Anyhow... April is a good month for things happening! You've got the liberation of major concentration camps in the 1940s... the sinking of the Titanic in 1912... the end of the American Civil War... Columbine... the beginning of the American Revolution... King Henry the VIII ascending to the throne (that's today, by the way. I mean... today a long time ago!)... Abraham Lincoln assassinated... etc etc etc
Okay... I could be writing about King Henry, but I'm not. Instead, I'm choosing another famous thing that happened on April 21.
The Red Baron!
Oh... wrong one. LOL ;)
This is Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen, known to most people as "The Red Baron" or "The Red Devil." He was a German pilot during the second world war and has been credited with at least 80 victories in air combat. That's pretty much a record. The only thing I don't like about this guy is that... he was working for the wrong team. Something I found interesting: "After his first confirmed victory, Richthofen ordered a silver cup engraved with the date and the type of enemy machine from a jeweller in Berlin. He continued this until he had 60 cups, by which time the supply of silver in blockaded Germany was restricted."[This is a quote from wikipedia] Hmm... maybe a bit of a pride issue or something? Anyhow... he was shot and killed on April 21.
Anyhow, the reason I'm doing this post is because I have a question: Why Red Baron? I mean... the pizza. Why would an American-based food company want to name their product after a Nazi pilot? The Nazi government was everything that Americans have fought against from the beginning.
I turned to my best friend, Google, for the answer. And I honestly didn't come up with much. But I do have an idea. Look at the Red Baron pizza box. Look at the picture beneath. Same guy? Ahm... No. As one person put it, the Pizza Baron is "substantially unlike Richthofen." So my idea is this: maybe the hero on the pizza box is called the Red Baron just to make everyone think he's invincible, but he really has nothing to do with the German pilot? LOL What do you think?
P.S. I haven't been getting many comments lately... are my posts that bad? I know I'm not taking as much time on them, but I'm trying to graduate in a few weeks, everybody! =P I don't have time to do well-thought posts!
P.P.S. Thanks to those of you who have commented! You're the best!
I was seven years old and I didn't really understand why my mom was so sad. I enjoyed our long drive down to Denver, but I was really bored with the whole memorial thing. So a bunch of people had died? I didn't know any of them, so I didn't really care. Mom hadn't known them either. Or Dad. Nobody I knew had ever seen these kids. So why were we wasting our time here? And then... my attitude changed. I'm still not sure which of the victims it was, but when we stopped by her memorial, I saw a stuffed animal that was the same as my favorite. Something clicked inside of me. Even though I didn't know these victims, other people did know them. The girls liked stuffed animals, reading, nail polish, etc.
Each of those pictures represented a life that had been ended by the brutal rampage of two teenage boys.
It was eleven years ago today that Columbine High School became a national headline. The murderers and the murdered are still remembered today. The grief of the loved ones who were left behind is still there, even eleven years later. But for some, the grief is mixed with the joy that they will see their child in Heaven. God's grace has helped some families to overcome the effects of the worst day of their lives.
In other portions of the country, other families have relied on God's grace in similar situations. A recent movie showed this, taking us to Pennsylvania and the Amish families affected by the school shooting that took place over three years ago.
This movie wasn't completely accurate, but what movie is? And it carries a great message of forgiveness. I'd recommend it to anybody! And... if you're even just a little bit like me, make sure you have a box of kleenex within reach. I cried from start to finish!
[Note: As far as I know, there are no plans to release this on DVD. Go here to watch the movie online. I had my grandpa record it for me. =)]
First off, the pictures I promised! =D In case you're not sure what I'm referring to, I was able to go to a banquet on the 8th. Here are some pictures from the banquet!
My amazing friend Bailey and myself
The back of my dress =D
Me
Bay, her mom, and her aunt all worked to make this happen:
Anyhow... It was a great night! Soooo much fun! And just in case you're curious: I got the dress at the thrift store for a really great price! The jacket is from JCPenney.
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Erica was gone all last week for the AACS (American Association of Christian Schools) Fine Arts Tournament. Our Bible Quizzing team took 2nd in the nation! Way to go, guys!
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I got my hair cut last Thursday. Almost 5 inches off! I'm so relieved to be able to say that I like it! If ya'll want, I can post pictures of that, too.
In my last post, I couldn't remember the name of George Valentine's radio show. It's called Let George Do It. I don't know how much ya'll care, but now you know! I also did neglect to mention a couple of shows that I enjoy. So if you're wanting a ton of shows to listen to, or if you're strange enough to want to be like me in every way (HAHAHA) here's the ones I forgot:
The Adventures of Philip Marlowe
The Adventures of Sam Spade
Challenge of the Yukon
Gunsmoke
The Lone Ranger
Nick Carter, Master Detective
Pat Novak for Hire
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
The Whistler
Please be aware that some of these shows have weird episodes that I don't care for. LOL Some of the ones from The Shadow aren't too great for falling asleep to or anything. And The Whistler is kinda far out, too. In fact, I haven't listened to it for months 'cause I hadn't found a good episode for awhile. Last note before I'm done: Richard Diamond and a couple of the other detectives tend to be a bit woman-crazy in a few episodes. Just thought I'd give you the heads-up there.
